Report on the Forum on Media and Interculturalism
Hub Student Centre, Dublin City University
March 21& 22, 2002
Maeve Connolly, Debbie Ging, Jackie Malcolm©
August 2002
Table of
Contents
1. 1. Introduction.........................................................................................................
3
2. Planning Process..............................................................................................
4
3. Structure of the Forum...............................................................................
6
Critical Frameworks, Presentations and Workshops.................
7
4. Citizenship Education......................................................................................
7
4.1.
Institutions, Policy and Terminology..............................................................................
7
4.2.
Citizenship Education: Introductory Remarks...............................................................
10
David Denby, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies,
DCU.......................
10
4.3.
Intercultural Education: the University of Tomorrow? Ronit Lentin, MPhil in
Ethnic
and Racial Studies, Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin.............................
12
4.4
Intercultural Guidelines for the Curriculum - Gerard Quirke,
National Council for Curriculum and Assessment..................................................
14
4.5.
Citizenship Education: Workshop Session....................................................................
15
4.6.
Multiculturalism in National and International Contexts..............................................
17
5.
Print Journalism..............................................................................................
19
5.1.
Print Journalism: Professional Standards and Personal Experience...........................
19
5.2
Nuala Haughey - Social and Racial Affairs correspondent, The Irish Times..................
21
5.3.
metro eireann - Chinedu Onyejelem.............................................................................
23
5.4.
Print Journalism: Workshop Session............................................................................
25
6.Public
Information...........................................................................................
27
6.1.
Public Information Campaigns: Defining Audiences and Objectives............................
27
6.2
Why is interculturalism replacing the outmoded concepts of multiculturalism and assimilation?
Philip Watt, National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism.........................
29
6.3.
Amnesty International’s Irish Section’s Print Campaign “Leadership Against Racism”,
Fiona Crowley, Legal Officer................................................................................................
30
6.4.
Citizen Traveller: An Overview, Jacinta Brack.............................................................
32
6.5.
Public Information Campaigns: Workshop Session......................................................
36
7.
Broadcast Drama.............................................................................................
37
7.1
Broadcast Drama: Genres, Producers and Audiences...................................................
37
7.2
The Portrayal of Immigrants in Fair City - Mary Halpin.................................................
39
7.3.
Broadcast Drama: Workshop Session...........................................................................
40
8.
Broadcast Documentary & Current Affairs................................
41
8.1.
Broadcast Documentary & Current Affairs: Overview...................................................
41
8.2.
Broadcast Documentary and Current Affairs: Workshop Sessions................................
42
9. Conclusions: Irish Media and Interculturalism.........................
43
10. Published Resources.................................................................................
44
11. Web-based Resources................................................................................
46
12. Acknowledgements.....................................................................................
47
1. Introduction
The Forum on Media and Interculturalism was held
in the Hub Student Centre, Dublin
City University, on March 21st & 22nd, 2002.
The Working
Group on Media and Interculturalism,
currently comprising Maeve Connolly (DCU), Debbie Ging (DCU) and Jackie Malcolm
(NCAD), was established in response to recent media initiatives in the area
of multiculturalism and interculturalism in Ireland. The members have a background
in community arts, education, media and art production, and are currently
working as media lecturers and postgraduate researchers.
The aim of the Forum was to
-
Contextualise
and analyse recent media interventions
-
Promote
discussion and debate amongst media producers, educators, policy-makers and
students
-
Provide
an overview and critical analysis of the various models of multiculturalism
and interculturalism currently informing, and being constructed through, Irish
media
This initiative was inspired by other Irish and
international research projects, public seminars and conferences including Media
Forum (Integra/EU Employment initiative, Feb. 2000) Re-Mapping Dublin (Trinity College) Cultures in Conflict (DCU/St Pats). It was also informed by the ongoing
work of British agencies such as the Runnymede Trust and websites e.g. Diversity Online
[1]
(Web resource
for journalists run by EU). It is hoped that our report might be of use to
educators and policy-makers in the future, as well as providing a basis for
further dialogue between the diverse groups involved in this field. Response
to the Forum is part of the continuing research of the working group.
The media and education texts selected for the
Forum comprised:
-
Interculturalism
Handbook and Guidelines (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, Dept.
of Education)
-
MA
in Intercultural Studies (SALIS, Dublin City University)
-
MA
Phil in Ethnic and Racial Studies (Trinity College Dublin)
-
The Irish Times, Social and Racial Affairs coverage
-
metro eireann
-
Know
Racism Campaign (Dept. of Justice, Equality and Law Reform)
-
Citizen
Traveller Campaign (Pavee Point, Irish Traveller Movement, Parish of the Travelling
People, National Traveller Womens’ Forum)
-
Leadership
Against Racism Campaign (Amnesty International)
-
Fair
City (RTE Drama)
-
Black
Day at Black Rock (Venus Productions/RTE Drama)
-
No
Man’s Land (Vinegar Hill Productions/RTE documentary)
-
Mono
(RTE)
Individuals from a range of institutions and agencies
contributed to the forum; panels were chaired by representatives from the
National Union of Journalists, the
National Consultative Committee on Racism
and Interculturalism, the School of Communications and the School of Applied
Language and Intercultural Studies at Dublin City University and the Dublin
Institute of Technology. Other participants included invited representatives
from NGOs and government agencies working to promote interculturalism in Ireland.
Each panel was followed by workshops, intended to promote discussion of the
selected media texts and the various ways in which they articulate with different
models of interculturalism or multiculturalism.
The participants who attended and contributed to
the forum over the two days included students and teachers from third level
educational institutions, graduate and postgraduate lecturers and researchers,
and members of NGO’s and other agencies and organizations.
The Forum on Media and Interculturalism was funded
by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and was intended to
coincide with National Anti-Racism Awareness Day (March 21). The Forum was
a non-profit event and all proceeds from registration were donated to the
Irish Refugee Council.
2. Planning Process
The Working Group began as a series of conversations
between the members; Debbie Ging, Maeve Connolly and Jackie Malcolm. As researchers
and lecturers in media, film and cultural studies, we were comparing ways
in which the media was generating coverage of refugees and asylum seekers
in Ireland. We were initially interested in what we perceived as a tendency,
in mainstream popular and public discourse, to focus on Ireland as a ‘site’
that was experiencing a considerable increase in the arrival of refugees and
asylum seekers, and the way in which these social and cultural changes were
being discussed and represented as a local problem that required political
intervention in order to be solved.
Some of the journalistic discourse suggested that
an appropriate way to respond to refugees and asylum seekers, both in terms
of policy-making and social contact and integration, was through an imaginative
empathy with their position based on the memories and experiences of Irish
emigrants. Very little acknowledgement, if any, was being made of the fact
that migration is caused by complex political, economic and socio-geographical
changes taking place at a global level.
One of the initial aims of the project was to attempt
to offer a different set of discursive terms and contexts to address and challenge
some of the fundamental, but unquestioned, assumptions that were driving the
discourses and informing the media representations. The project did not aim
to solve the situation, but rather to explore and reveal the consequences
and problems inherent in mediating the social changes in this way. To contextualise
both the cultural shifts and the media coverage, we were aiming to explore
the discursive frameworks by locating them in wider historical and contemporary
frameworks.
To map the field of existing theoretical and critical
approaches, we began to source publications and potential speakers to identify
the key areas and shape the conference format. As this progressed, we began
to realise that a conference organized around a traditional format of the
presentation of research papers did not necessarily suit the purpose of our
own project. The problems we perceived arising in the Irish media were open
to interpretation from an academic and a non-academic perspective. After a
year of discussion and change, we realized that one of the key concerns of
our project was the practice of
representation, one that could be informed, but not restricted to, a consideration
of theories of representation. We also began to shape the project from the
perspective of the potential audience, rather than personal or institutional
research interests.
From this point onwards, the aim of the project
was focused as a forum that could offer a response to recent campaigns and
strategies that had been circulated across Irish media in attempts to promote
and generate public awareness of interculturalism, citizenship and diversity.
The need for a broadly educative platform was selected as the most useful
and the most constructive context to enable students and educators to access
and assess both how and why texts had been produced and circulated, as well
as analysis of the individual texts and their reception.
The audience would clearly consist of students
and educators engaging, at different levels of familiarity and experience,
with both media production and academic discourses. This would necessitate
a forum that could generate discussions that integrated the different discourses
arising out of conditions of production and reception. The audience would
clearly benefit from having access to a range of practitioners and theorists
from the field, in a way that enabled active discussion of the texts, the
decision-making processes that informed them, and the accumulation, throughout
the forum, of an awareness of how those texts inter-related and might be seen
to espouse or suggest models of interculturalism and citizenship.
The structure of the forum arose from an acknowledgement
that key texts could be seen to be emerging from different sectors; public
information, education, print and broadcast media. They existed within, and
drew on, different modes of representation, and would benefit from being considered in
separate seminar spaces. This might also make it useful for audience members
who had more interest in some areas than others. An initial panel was devised,
representing education, to offer an overview of how interculturalism was being
mobilized in academic discourse as well as in policy-making and to suggest
how terms and definitions were being taken up, used and constantly changed
in popular understandings.
The resulting 5 panels offered an expansive and
comprehensive representation of some of the key personnel and organizations
invested and involved in the work and the representation of interculturalism
in Ireland. They provided specific examples of their approaches, their working
methods and processes, their rationale and their resulting texts. They were
devised to work both as separate fora and as a comprehensive and inter-related
platform, and offered a unique and invaluable opportunity for students and
educators not only to access this information, but also to engage in discussions,
with experts and among themselves, about issues and practices that are lived
but by no means resolved.
One of the responsibilities of third level institutions
continues to be the generation of learning environments that enable and encourage
learning as well as teaching. The time, effort and expertise put into the
forum by the panel participants, the facilitators and the audience enabled
valuable learning to take place over the two days and beyond. The Working
Group would highly recommend this format as a means for encouraging further
educative platforms for students and educators. It recommends that the institution
considers, supports and encourages these kinds of models of learning to be as
valid and valuable as the traditional conference or lecture, and to consider
how they might be integrated into existing courses and modules to engage learners
in current issues of academic, cultural, social and political importance.
3. Structure of the Forum
The Forum presented a number of key texts, including
posters, advertisements, newspaper articles and television programmes
[2]
, which address the experiences and rights of cultural or ethnic minorities
in Ireland.
One of the primary aims of the Forum was to provide
a constructive critical framework to facilitate the analysis of these media
texts. The first panel, on Citizenship Education, featured presentations on
University and schools curricula and provided an overview of diverse ideological
and pedagogical positions. The presenters were asked to address the issue
of citizenship, as a means of situating the work of educational institutions
in relation to the wider public sphere.
In order to allow for a comparison of textual strategies
and contexts of production, the media texts were grouped together in ‘Print
Journalism’, ‘Public Information’, ‘Broadcast Documentary’ and ‘Broadcast
Drama’ panels. Although the majority
of the selected texts are recent (produced in 2000 or 2001) they were developed
within a range of institutional contexts and, as the analysis below will demonstrate,
they are structured by very different objectives and modes of address. Each
panel was followed by workshop sessions that enabled participants to follow
up on the issues and debates raised during the panel presentations and discussions.
This report develops this comparative approach
to analysis. It aims to identify the common reference points or dominant discourses
around racism and interculturalism that structure Irish media production.
It is informed by the presentations given at the Forum, by close readings
of the selected media texts and (in the case of organisations) by policy statements.
Critical overviews of each panel are offered, followed by reproduction of
the papers and presentations made available by the presenters. The themes
and key issues that were recorded on flipcharts during the workshop sessions
are also offered as a summary of the discussions that emerged.
Critical Frameworks, Presentations
and Workshops
4. Citizenship Education
4.1. Institutions, Policy and Terminology
The Citizenship Education panel was chaired by
David Denby of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS)
at DCU and it featured presentations on the MA in Intercultural Studies (by
Agnes Maillot of SALIS, DCU), on the development of Intercultural Guidelines
for the Curriculum (by Gerard Quirke of the National Council for Curriculum
and Assessment) and on the M.Phil in Ethnic and Racial Studies (by Ronit Lentin,
Trinity College, Dublin).
As Panel Leader, David Denby was asked to address
current issues in intercultural education. He began by referring to the ‘Know
Racism’ media campaign
[3]
,
which identifies footballer Jason Sherlock as ‘a member of Dublin’s smallest
ethnic minority: Dubs with All-Ireland medals’. He noted that this mode of
address suggested an ‘assimilationist’ model, whereby Sherlock’s ethnicity
was brought ‘on-side’ and incorporated within Irish society through a sporting
metaphor.
Denby noted that while Irish policy makers or campaigners
rely on labels such as ‘multicultural’ or ‘intercultural’ interchangeably,
these terms were highly contested, in both academic and political contexts.
He emphasised the existence of competing categorisations such as ‘multi-ethnic’,
‘multi-lingual’, ‘multi-denominational’ and ‘multi-racial’.
Denby provided an overview of the dominant models
in Europe and in the US. He referred to the work of critics such as Charles
Taylor
[4]
,,
who argues against the notion of a ‘unitary public sphere’ opposed to multiple
private spheres. Taylor proposes a form of ‘communitarianism’ instead, which
acknowledges that individuals are embedded in cultures and, as such, must
be recognised by public systems as citizens and
as members of communities.
Denby noted that various critics
[5]
have problematised the notion
that cultures should be granted automatic rights above those extended to individuals.
In the second part of his presentation he theorised a pedagogical model based
on the notion of intercultural communication developed by Milton Bennett
[6]
among others (see also works
by Adler and Banks). This approach,
which recalls the work of Bakhtin, requires the relativisation of one’s own
position in order to understand the place of the other. He acknowledged, however,
that this individualistic approach may not fully address questions of social
power.
Noting that education was ‘strategically situated between the public and private spheres’, Denby emphasised the need for Irish identity to be made problematic and relative within Irish education. As an example of this practice, he referenced a recent report produced by the Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education (and co-authored by a SALIS postgraduate student). [7]
He concluded with a call for a form of ‘citizenship
education’, focusing on the ‘specificity of Irish society’, in a way that
would be markedly different from the approaches developed in France or in
Germany and he suggested that one aspect of this programme might deal with
Irish emigration. The issues raised by Denby’s presentation provided a context
for the remainder of the Forum, and particularly the workshop discussions.
In her presentation on intercultural education
at SALIS Agnes Maillot emphasised many common points of reference with Denby.
She noted that the model developed in the MA in Intercultural Studies at DCU
is highly interdisciplinary. The course is addressed towards practitioners
working in a broad range of areas, including health care, social work and
education and seems to focus on cultural difference, as articulated through
language, literature or film, within the context of a broader analysis of
processes of globalisation and internationalisation. One element of the programme,
a module on ‘Multiculturalism and Ethnicity’, also deals specifically with
the ‘multicultural’ experience within different European contexts.
Following Maillot, Gerard Quirke introduced an
NCCA project on the development of Intercultural Guidelines for the primary
and post-primary curricula. This project is still in its very early stages
and it builds upon some of the findings of the 1999 Review of the primary
curriculum.
[8]
Quirke outlined a number
of specific aims and objectives, including the analysis of the existing curriculum,
the promotion of tolerance, the acknowledgment of the Christian values of
the majority and the equal recognition afforded to other groups. The Guidelines
are intended to support both mediation of the curriculum and approaches to
assessment.
Commentators have already emphasised the need for
Irish educators to learn from the British experience
[9]
and Quirke noted that the
research process included the investigation of approaches to curriculum mediation
in other countries that have a history of developments in this area. The project
is specifically designed to support the integration of students from diverse
cultural backgrounds, and Quirke noted the importance of the work already
being done in relation to Traveller children’s access to education.
It remains to be seen whether the Intercultural
Guidelines will provide the direction and support for schools that has been
lacking within the British context.
[10]
One possible problem with
the review process is the apparent absence of any formalised relationship
between the NCCA and University researchers engaged in various forms of Intercultural
education.
[11]
This may serve to limit the
possibility for a more extensive revision of Irish educational institutions
and structures.
The final presentation, given by Ronit Lentin,
began with a critique of the apparent ‘cosiness’ of the panel, focusing on
the absence of the word ‘racism’ from the discussion. She defined racism as
a political system which aims to regulate bodies, and defined multiculturalism
as a policy response to the perceived problem of pluralist societies. She
repeatedly emphasised that, in opposition to the multicultural agenda, cultures
must be regarded as contested rather than as fixed. She noted that within
social science, race was addressed primarily as a discourse but she also rejected
the uncritical use of categorisations such as culture and ethnicity in place of the term
race.
In addressing the issue of citizenship education
Lentin emphasised that, for members of certain racialised groups within the
current Irish context, citizenship could not be regarded as a certainty. She
noted that while the MPhil in Ethnic and Racial Studies at TCD had been established
(in 1997) in response to rising levels of racism associated with immigration,
one of its key objectives was the analysis of established forms of racism
within Irish society.
Although the M.Phil targets social science graduates
it is also specifically aimed (like the SALIS programme) at those working
in ‘human service delivery’ in health care, education or social work. Lentin
also addressed the issue of the Multicultural University, and its theorisation
in the British context.
In general terms it seemed apparent that, while
the SALIS programme focused on European models, Lentin’s critical framework
was more directly informed by reference to British theory and practice. The
panel raised a number of problems in relation to Irish media interventions, particularly surrounding modes of address.
4.2. Citizenship Education: Introductory Remarks
David
Denby, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, DCU
The introduction to the Parekh report The Future of Multi-ethnic Britain says
the following about citizenship:
Citizens are both individuals
and members of religious and cultural communities. Britain is both a community
of citizens and a community of communities, both a liberal and a multicultural
society, and needs to reconcile their sometimes conflicting requirements.
The notion of citizenship which has come down to
us from the Enlightenment and from the American and French Revolutions is
based on the twin notions of individualism and universality. It presupposes
a unitary public sphere in which the same rights and responsibilities apply
to all. In many ways, the French model of secularism, laďcité,
is a perfect expression of this model: the state (and crucially the state
education system) applies the same rules to all: the religious and cultural
preferences of individuals, families or communities are respected, but are
a matter for the private sphere and are thus separate from citizenship. The
famous case of the chador, where
Muslim girls were excluded from a French school for wearing the headscarf,
dramatises the tensions which the French model throws up. But these tensions
are real, and go beyond France: the debate between liberals and communitarians
is, among other things, about balancing the competing claims of universalistic
individualism and communitarian (or ethnic) specificity.
The boundary between public and private spheres is crucial here, as John
Rex’s model of the multicultural society makes clear. One of the most powerful
liberal critiques of the communitarian position is that, because the private
sphere is the area in which family and gender relations dominate, communitarianism
is bad for women’s and children’s rights.
Education is one area which almost by definition
straddles the division between the public and private spheres: as an institution,
the school takes children from diverse private situations and places them
together in a unitary public space. One of the questions which is arising
in Ireland today is to what extent and how schools should adapt to the presence
of new ethnic identities. I offer no answer to this question, but possible
answers would lie between two opposed and equally unacceptable extremes: on
the one hand, a republican (in the French rather than the Irish sense of the
term) refusal to countenance any institutional change, on the (false) grounds
that the school system is universalist and culturally neutral; on the other,
a culturalist position which requires that the state accedes to any claim
for recognition from ethnic or cultural groups (a proliferation of faith schools
might be one consequence of this tendency). In reality, the process of adaptation
will require both the system and its users to make concessions.
I would like, finally, to make a few remarks about
intercultural communication and learning. I will be referring here to the
works by Bennett, Adler and Banks referred to in the bibliography. Speaking
of Northern Ireland, Edna Longley has argued (pp.6-7) that interculturalism is a more productive term than multiculturalism: parity of esteem, she
says, can lead to a situation where each (or every) identified group becomes
isolated within a static definition of its own identity, whereas interculturalism
places an emphasis on the dynamic which exists between groups, the ways in
which they can learn from each other through dialogue and reciprocity. Much
American work on interculturalism is built on the premise that we are all
rooted in a culture, and that that culture plays an important role in determining
our assumptions, attitudes and expectations. This is what makes intercultural
communication potentially problematic. But the central claim being made in
these approaches to interculturalism is that we can learn to go beyond this
cultural determination, developing greater openness to the world-views of
other cultures. Milton J. Bennett’s ‘Developmental Model of Intercultural
Sensitivity’ is well known. It attempts to describe a spectrum of attitudes
towards otherness on which people can be situated and through which an individual
can pass in a process of learning. This spectrum goes from the ethnocentric
at one end to the ethnorelative at the other. It is clear that the ethnorelative
position is seen as preferable, and other authors, while using different terms
(‘dynamic in-between-ness’, ‘the multicultural person’), have also suggested
the desirability of this set of attitudes. It may be useful if I isolate three
significant components of this kind of approach to intercultural communication:
1. being sensitive to the culture of the other
presupposes an awareness of one’s own situatedness, ie. being prepared to
relativise one’s own culture;
2. cultural adaptation is not the same as cultural
assimiliation. Culture is a process in which we engage, not an object which
we acquire, so that intercultural learning is a question of adding to a repertoire
rather than substituting one culture for another.
3. The overriding aim is not to obtain static knowledge
about other cultures, but to learn how to engage in dynamic communication
with individuals from another culture.
References
Charles Taylor et al., ed. Amy Gutman, Multiculturalism.
Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton University Press, 1994
Edna Longley and Declan Kiberd, Multi-culturalism: the View from the two Irelands,
Cork University Press in association with Centre for Cross-Border Studies,
Armagh, 2001.
John Rex, ‘The Concept of a Multicultural Society’,
in Monserrat Guiberneau, and John Rex, The Ethnicity Reader, Polity/Blackwell, 1997, pp.205-220.
Milton J. Bennett, ‘Towards Ethnorelativism: A
Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity’, in R. Michael Paige, ed.,
Education for the Intercultural Experience,
Intercultural Press, 1993.
Milton J. Bennett, ed., Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication, Intercultural Press,
1998.
Peter S. Adler, ‘Beyond Cultural Identity: Reflections on Multiculturalism’,
in Bennett (1998)
James A. Banks, ‘Multicultural education: Development,
Dimensions, Challenges’ in Bennett (1998)
Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education,
Education for a Pluralist Society: The
Direction of Intercultural Education, 2001
David
Denby© (david.denby@dcu.ie)
4.3. Intercultural Education: the University of Tomorrow? Ronit Lentin, MPhil in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin
In order
to open a debate about an intercultural university for tomorrow, it is important
to unpack terms such as ‘multiculturalism’, ‘interculturalism’ and anti-racism,
used for envisioning a more plural society and education system and link them
firmly to racism and racial harassment, without which we cannot fully imagine
an ‘intercultural’ society. I began by discussing the concept of ‘multiculturalism’
and its discontents. ‘Interculturalism’ has been offered as an alternative
to multiculturalism in the Irish context, supposedly meaning parity of cultures, rather than the dominance
of one ‘majority’ culture over a host of ‘smaller’ ‘minority’ cultures. I
argued that despite a lip service commitment to greater openness and ‘ethnic
and racial’ equality, we are far from the ideal of a truly ‘multicultural’
society, or university. The mere use of terms such as ‘ethnic, racial and
cultural equality’ are signs of the malaise, rather than part of the solution,
in that they perpetuate inequalities. The very notion of ‘cultural difference’
is at the heart not of an anti-racist, but rather of a racist agenda, and
the creation of a multicultural society comes at the expense of an equal one.
Equality is seen as good for ‘us’ but not necessarily for ‘them’, and racial
theory attempts to explain the gulf between an abstract attachment to equality
and the reality of social inequality, by suggesting that inequality is ‘natural’.
Multiculturalism
and interculturalism are best understood as a set of political policy responses to the ‘problems’ of cultural
or ethnic diversity. Central to multicultural politics, is the issue of the
recognition of cultural difference.
In the educational system this may translate into the teaching of history
and literature and into positive discrimination in hiring policies, which
often lead to accusations of 'political correctness', although the argument
that pc has gone too far is counteracted by the low proportion of people of
colour in the education system, in Ireland as elsewhere.
While it
must be asked whether the conservation of cultures leads to reification and
essentialisation of cultures, the debate is never about minority cultures,
rather about western cultural homogeneity. The main critique of multiculturalism
is the way in which is conceptualises ‘the community’ as based on a reified,
and ‘fixed’ culture. Multicultural policies always involve contradictions between collective and individual
rights although the state has a responsibility to cater for both: multiculturalist
policy makers ignore questions of power relations because they deal with representatives
of minority communities, who do not necessarily represent intra-community
interests (such as women, young people, disabled or gay people).
Furthermore,
Phil Cohen reminds us that:
The multicultural illusion
is that dominant and subordinate can somehow swap places and learn how the
other half lives, whilst leaving the structures of power intact. As if power
relations could be magically suspended through the direct exchange of experience,
and ideology dissolve into the thin air of face-to-face communication (Phil
Cohen, 1988: 13).
Today’s
Ireland is seeing the emergence of various forms of multicultural policies,
all, I would argue, stemming from a basic ‘politics of recognition’, rather
than on the more appropriate a ‘politics of interrogation’ of Irishness. These
initiatives are directed - from the top down - by bodies such as the NCCRI,
the government’s KNOW RACISM anti-racism awareness programme, and the Equality
Authority, which do not fully take the racialisation of so-called ‘minority’
groups into account.
On the road
to envisioning an intercultural university, I flagged some possibilities for
a multicultural university for debate. These involve:
-
the need to think globally
and act locally
-
making the university
a multi-racial space where ‘racial equality’ is an explicit part of the policy,
via hiring and student recruitment policies which favour ‘non-national’ faculty
and students
-
including anti-racism
training as part of all staff training programmes
-
offering access programmes
to Travellers, refugees and asylum seekers
-
adjusting syllabi and
course programmes to reflect an increasingly ‘multicultural’ Ireland and world
-
re-defining ‘culture’
by not reducing it to religion or ‘race’
-
taking on board Ireland’s
existing diversity, rather than defining it as a ‘new problem’ resulting from
the immigration of a few thousand people in the last few years
-
reconfiguring racism
as the problem of the university, not of racialised staff or students
-
challenging notions
of Irish national purity and ethnic absolutism as well as racism
-
redefining multiculturalism
in the light of changing ethnic identities away from the view which treats
‘white’ as homogeneous, and racialised cultures as fixed and unchanging.
Ronit Lentin© (rlentin@tcd.ie)
4.4 Intercultural Guidelines for the Curriculum - Gerard Quirke, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
As a result of discussions and agreement with the
Department of Education and Science and with the Reception and Integration
Agency of the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform the National Council
for Curriculum and Assessment has appointed two Education Officers, one primary
and one post primary, to work on Interculturalism and the Curriculum. The
work of the Education Officers will be assisted and guided by a Steering Committee.
The work of the NCCA in this area will be to:
·
Research
and examine ways in which the existing curriculum at both primary and post
primary level can best be mediated and adapted to reflect the emergence of
an expanding multicultural society.
·
Develop
guidance for schools for the mediation of curriculum and approaches to assessment
at primary and post primary level.
·
Support
the integration of students from diverse cultural backgrounds into the Irish
education system
·
Enhance
the intercultural educational experience of all our students at early childhood,
primary and post-primary level
·
In
the context of the aims above, make recommendations as appropriate to the
ongoing review of the primary and post primary curriculum.
The education officers are currently consulting
with various organisations that are working in or have an interest in the
area of intercultural education, with a view to informing the development
of the guidelines. They are also investigating approaches to curriculum mediation
in this context in other countries that have a history of developments in
this area.
The education officers would welcome any queries
or comments regarding the project.
Their contact details are;
Majella O’Shea,
Education Officer (Post Primary)
24 Merrion Square,
Dublin 2.
Ph. 01-6617176
e-mail majella.oshea@ncca.ie
Gerard Quirke,
Education Officer (Primary)
24 Merrion Square,
Dublin 2.
Ph. 01-6617177
e-mail Gerard.quirke@ncca.ie
Gerard Quirke© (Gerard.quirke@ncca.ie)
4.5. Citizenship Education: Workshop Session
Rather than split into two separate workshops,
this discussion took place in the form of one large workshop involving all
participants as this was the format which participants felt would be most
appropriate. The discussion was focussed around two broad issues, namely:
·
The
position of education between the public and private spheres, and the relationship
between individual and group rights
·
The
need for a multicultural ethos in primary and secondary schools throughout
the country, the various problems encountered, and the specific measures which
might be taken in order to achieve this goal
One of the key questions raised was whether it
is appropriate to talk about certain groups as if they were fixed or unproblematic,
a point that was made by Ronit Lentin in her presentation on 'Intercultural
Education: the University of Tomorrow?' Lentin also made the point in the
workshop discussion that racism is a European / U.S. (Enlightenment) construct,
which led to a discussion of the relationship between Irish nationalism, citizenship
and racism, with several contributors contending that patriotism and nationalism
necessarily encourage exclusion of the Other
[12]
.
The question was also raised as to the validity
of applying notions of universal rights (Declaration of Human Rights) in complex
situations that may require closer analysis of the specificities involved.
The point was made, for example, that multicultural policies can have economic
motives, e.g. Australia and Nordic countries, whereas Ireland has a different
task, namely to create a new response
to multiculturalism. Ronit Lentin asked whether the "problem" of
races could be reconstructed as the "problem" of the university,
society, etc.?
The discussion on promoting interculturalism in
schools began with a synopsis by Gerard Quirke (NCCA) of the various ways
in which primary and secondary schools in Ireland are already shaping and
changing attitudes through practice. Quirke noted that, although the NCCA
guidelines on interculturalism are not yet complete, Irish schools acknowledge
minority cultures already. Given that family structure and behaviour frequently
teach children racist attitudes, it was agreed that schools had a particularly
important role to play in this regard. One contributor cited a project undertaken
by the University of East London which involved parents, thus acknowledging
the role of family background in forming children's attitudes.
The example of Traveller culture was mentioned,
whereby conflicting educational needs often arise between settled and travelling
communities. The questions raised were: How can a useful policy be devised?
Should it be integrated or non-integrated? Should it be segregated to cater
for specific needs or assimilationist to ensure that all children are treated
equally? It was felt by a number of participants that there was much to be
learned from the experience of Traveller education in Ireland, though there
was not sufficient time to develop this theme within the context of the workshop.
Picking up on a point raised by David Denby in
his paper, one contributor suggested that dialogue was needed in the school
curriculum with regard to the centrality of Christianity. Should the majority
belief be retained as central in some way or should all religions be treated
equally? It was widely agreed that dominant belief systems need to be problematised
rather than treated as neutral or 'the norm' against which difference is measured.
The fact that churches still play a managerial role in many schools in Ireland
was cited as a potential obstacle in this regard.
The question of citizenship was also raised, focusing
on the questions: What is a citizen of Ireland? and What level of political
knowledge do Irish school children receive regarding concepts of citizenship?
How does it compare with the U.S. model of citizenship? The point was also
raised that minorities may be racist toward the majority culture. However,
it was argued that this is usually a manifestation of the racialized or oppressed
dealing with their own marginalisation. Minorities may be vulnerable and defensive
if they suspect hostility. Although the overall objective is equality, it
must also be acknowledged that not all children start out from the same position.
It was also acknowledged that it is difficult to
educate children to be anti-racist when they already experience other prejudices,
e.g. about social class, religion, etc. However, it was argued that in schools,
the individual has many identities in common and that children from different
ethnic backgrounds may discover that they have more commonalities than differences
with Irish children, e.g. common factors such as class, gender, age and interests
can take priority above ethnicity. One contributor suggested the use of experiential
learning to raise understanding, operating on the basis that the psychological
dynamic of racism is simple (and therefore should be simple to tackle).
Further
reading / resources on this subject
·
Donal
O'Loingsigh, 'Intercultural Education and the School Ethos' in Responding to Racism in Ireland, edited
by Fintan Farrell and Philip Watt (Dublin, Ireland: Veritas, 2001).
·
David
Lloyd, ‘Foundations of Diversity: Thinking the University in a Time of Multiculturalism’
in Rowe, John Carlos, ed, “Culture”
and the Problem of the Disciplines (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
·
Stella
Dadzie, Blood, Sweat and Tears: A report
of the Bede Anti-Racist Detatched
Youth Work Project (Youth Work Project, 17-23 Albion Street, Leicester
LE1 6GD).
·
Roger
Hewitt, Routes of Racism: The Social
Basis of Racist Action (Trentham Books).
4.6. Multiculturalism in National and International Contexts
Before
returning to the discussion of media texts, it may be useful to expand on
some of the positions referenced in the Citizenship Education presentations,
with a particular focus on the interaction between Irish and international
models. Both Edna Longley and Declan Kiberd have theorised multiculturalism
(or ‘multi-culturalism’) in relation to Irish nationalism.
[13]
Longley is critical of a ‘minimalist’ form of multi-culturalism,
signified by cultural co-existence rather than by cultural exchange.
[14]
She favours a form of interculturalism to the multi-culturalism of
the US where, she notes, ‘different ethnic groups like to picture themselves
as autonomous, and reject the notion of a wider or dominant culture.’
[15]
Kiberd
is similarly critical of the US model and instead advocates the ‘necessarily
messy, disputatious, promiscuous multi-culturalism’ that Stuart Hall has called
‘a multiculturalism without guarantees’.
[16]
Like many Irish commentators, Kiberd draws a parallel
between the experiences of immigrants and the cultural strategies of the Irish.
He notes that ‘if the migrant is the sign of the modern, then the Irish were
modern earlier than most peoples’
[17]
and emphasises the importance
of this cultural memory. He concludes, however, that only ‘a people secure
in their national philosophy are capable of dealing confidently with those
who come among them with deep commitments to alternative codes’.
[18]
Here, racism and intolerance
is linked to an anxiety around the national rather than to nationalism itself.
Kiberd and Longley both focus on the version of
multiculturalism that prevails within institutional contexts in the US but
there are other, more subversive, forms. The Chicago Cultural Studies Group,
for example, acknowledges the multiculturalism of the ‘countless local impulses
that appear to derive from pluralism, nationalism or insurgent subcultural
formations and alliances’. They also identify the various forms of multiculturalism
operating within academic contexts, such as ‘the interdisciplinary cultural
criticism that conjoins different publics around discourse, identities and
difference’ and ‘the international comparativism that crosses boundaries to
produce new knowledge and new challenges to the means of knowledge.’
[19]
The Chicago group calls for a more international
model of cultural studies, a renewed attention to the institutional environments
of cultural studies and an examination of the relation between multiculturalism
and identity politics. A particular danger associated with identity politics,
they suggest, is the ‘romance of authenticity’
[20]
, according to which native
voices are privileged because they are conceived as somehow transparent. They
suggest that the ideological norms of positivism, which continue to dominate
the (North American) academic context, are fundamental to the operations of
the nation-state. Within this model, ‘cultures’ acquire visibility at the
expense of the multiple and overlapping structures through which difference
is mediated.
David Lloyd has argued that debates around multiculturalism
in the University are ‘symptomatic of a more profound educational and social
crisis.’
[21]
Referring to the problems
surrounding the development of an ‘American Cultures’ curriculum in Berkeley,
Lloyd critiques the process whereby a ‘minority’s culture is skimmed off and
in one way or another consumed and celebrated while the social and economic
conditions that provide the ‘life-world’ of those cultural forms are destroyed’.
[22]
Lloyd foregrounds the role of the University (and
the humanities, in particular) in the formation of the subject and advocates
the displacement of this abstract critical subject by a radical critical subjectivity,
which ‘emerges precisely in the contradictions of the state-formation’.
[23]
He
suggests that the multicultural project requires not simply an educational
system directed towards the development of citizens, but instead a critique
of the very formation of the political.
Lloyd acknowledges that even a minimal representation
of minority cultural works within the University ‘produces effects that exceed
the assimilative ends of pluralism’.
[24]
But he emphasises that is
not enough to simply construct a role, however central, for ‘other’ forms
of subjectivity within an existing political framework. The University does
not become ‘multicultural’ simply by reflecting an already existing diversity.
5. Print Journalism
5.1. Print Journalism: Professional Standards and Personal Experience
The Journalism panel was chaired by Ronan Brady
of the National Union of Journalists and it featured presentations on the
Irish Times’ coverage of ‘Social and Racial
Affairs’ (by journalist Nuala Haughey) and on the work of Metro Eireann (by editor Chinedu Onyejelem).
These texts can be regarded as explicit responses to racism or interculturalism.
All of the presenters referred to the importance
of professional standards in guiding journalistic practice. Ronan Brady outlined
the work of the National Union of Journalists in relation to racism within
the media. He noted that the Union established the ethical rules that informed
the practice of 90% of Irish print and broadcast journalist. He emphasised
that Union members are required to follow specific rules regarding race coverage;
a journalist can only mention a person’s race or if this information is ‘strictly
relevant and he/she must not ‘originate or process material’ that encourages
‘discrimination, ridicule, prejudice or hatred’.
[25]
Brady noted that the role of the NUJ is to support,
rather than police, the work of members. In order to encourage more responsible
reporting the Union organised a conference in 1998, which brought journalists
into contact with people who were directly affected by coverage of race. It
also actively campaigns against ‘censorship legislation’ that prevents journalists
from interviewing asylum-seekers without the permission of the Minister for
Justice.
[26]
Although this legislation is ostensibly based upon
the need to ‘protect’ asylum-seekers it effectively excludes their experience
from the public sphere. In this sense it recalls the exclusion of personal
narratives from debates around abortion and divorce. Both racism and censorship
can be categorised as infringements of basic human rights, according to the
European Convention of Human Rights
[27]
, and the ‘human rights’ definition
of racism seems to inform the work of both the NUJ and individual journalists
such as Nuala Haughey.
In her presentation, Nuala
Haughey emphasised the print media’s specific responsibilities in the area
of race coverage. She noted that some elements of the Irish media are guilty
of negatively labelling minority groups and failing to challenge negative
stereotypes. She also pointed out
that even when coverage of refugees and asylum-seekers is not blatantly racist
it might often reinforce negative attitudes towards other cultures and towards
the notion of multiculturalism.
Haughey’s presentation provided
an overview of journalistic standards and responsibilities, rather than addressing
the specific objectives of the ‘Social and Racial Affairs correspondent’ role
in the Irish Times. It was primarily
concerned with the ethical and professional responsibilities of individual
journalists and focused repeatedly on the value of objectivity, in the form
of factual and balanced reporting. She did identify various strategies to
improve coverage, however. These included the removal of the ban against revealing
the identity of asylum-seekers and the development of media education for
representatives of minority groups.
Both Haughey and Chinedu Onyejelem
emphasised the importance of incorporating a diversity of perspectives within
The Irish Times and agreed that
the responsibility for Social and Racial Affairs coverage could be shared
among various journalists, including members of minority groups.
Onyejelem’s presentation on metro eireann, ‘Ireland’s first and only multicultural newspaper’
[28]
outlined a number of specific objectives, centering
on the need for positive representations of ethnic minorities and immigrant
communities in Ireland. He acknowledged the important contribution of other
publications such as The Irish Times,
and in particular the work of journalists such as Haughey. But he argued that
events such as exhibitions or festivals were not regarded by mainstream media
as newsworthy. Clearly metro eireann
aims to fulfil this particular role, by explicitly ‘promoting understanding through the arts,
entertainment and sport’ as well as through debates.
This focus on the celebration of cultural diversity
has contributed to the establishment of the metro eireann Media and Multicultural Awards (MAMA).
[29]
But the awards also acknowledge
the work of the various non-governmental and voluntary agencies, developed
in the absence of state support or political leadership. Metro eireann is avowedly ‘non-political
and non-campaigning’ but a recent statement notes that ‘Government, Opposition
groups, politicians and public representatives have been advocating the need
to accept the changing Ireland without always putting in place the necessary
tools needed to adapt to that change’.
[30]
The journalism panel raised various issues concerning
the audiences for publications such as The
Irish Times and metro eireann.
The latter publication, for example, aims to serve immigrant communities (by
focusing on employment issues and rights and by publishing articles in French
as well as in English). It also functions to represent the experiences of
immigrants and minorities for a broader Irish readership. This mode of address
is, in fact, central to its project of ‘reflecting’ an already existing cultural
diversity. In contrast, The Irish Times tends to address a national
(or international) readership and this focus serves to structure its coverage.
5.2 Nuala Haughey - Social and Racial Affairs correspondent, The Irish Times
The media and the political elite have important
roles to play in the fight against growing discrimination and racism. That
some elements of the media are not fulfilling this role is evident.
Media outlets can contribute to racist attitudes
and racial discrimination by negatively labelling minority groups and repeating,
reinforcing and failing to challenge negative stereotypes, either intentionally
or unintentionally.
Some reporting on asylum and immigration matters,
by presenting migrants exclusively as problems, feeds into negative stereotyping
of people on “race” grounds and perpetuates a climate of hostility to migrants.
Here are a few examples:
As far back as 1997, when the total number of asylum
claims for the year was 3,888 - less
than half of the annual total in recent years - The Irish Independent was already reporting growing fears by immigration
officials that the country was on the brink of a major refugee problem.
In May of that year, the same newspaper ran with
a headline: “Crackdown on 2,000 sponger
refugees.”
The Evening
Herald
reported in early 2002 an “alarming” rise in intercultural marriages, but
failed to expand on what the alarm was about.
While this media discourse is not openly about
“race,” it is widely understood that asylum-seekers and refugees are from
different ethnic groups.
In the climate created by such hyped reporting,
the word refugee has become a term of abuse instead of a category used to
define a person entitled to protection as someone fleeing persecution.
By repeatedly presenting stories which attach certain
characteristics to an identifiable group, the media can influence readers
to conclude that members of that group are inherently inferior. They can dehumanise
the people and create conditions where violence and discrimination against
them are more acceptable.
British sociologists have identified and analysed
what they call “the new cultural racism,” with race coded as culture. In Ireland,
small far right groups have weighed into the immigration debate and sought
to capitalise on confusion in the public mind and the general climate of hostility
to particularly non-white and Roma migrants.
They no longer use blatantly racist terminology
(although some still do) but have developed a code where they speak about
“migrants” and “bogus refugees” posing a threat to the national culture or
community. This allows discrimination to be expressed in more socially acceptable
ways.
A study in 1999 of four secondary schools found
that pupils based their knowledge of asylum-seekers and refugees on information
gleaned from the media and the education system.
In general, pupils associated the term asylum-seeker
with social deviance, particularly mental and psychological instability. Many
did not understand that the term meant someone claiming protection on the
basis that they were fleeing persecution. These pupils perceived multiculturalism
as a bad thing, as a threat to Irishness.
Politicians and officials are important sources
of stories for journalists and they too have a responsibility to desist from
using irresponsible language or promoting certain angles to stories to suit
their own agendas. Minority groups should be helped to become media conscious
in order to get their voices heard.
We journalists need strike a balance between reporting
facts and not subjecting ourselves to self-censorship or ignoring issues in
an effort to be politically correct. We should be responsible, educate ourselves
and our editors, balance our stories and encourage workplace diversity.
Nuala Haughey© (nhaughey@irish-times.ie)
5.3. metro eireann - Chinedu Onyejelem
metro eireann
is Ireland’s only multicultural newspaper and was established in April 2000
by two journalists - Abel Ugba and Chinedu Onyejelem. The primary aim of the
newspaper is to provide up-to-date news and information to Ireland’s fast
growing ethnic and immigrant communities.
The paper was originally intended to be not-for-profit.
However, as such, it was difficult to get support. The only solution was to
make it a profitable venture. Ugba and Onyejelem embarked on this project
with a total sum of a 2,439.48 euro loan. The initial print run of 10,000
copies was, because of the demand for the paper, increased to 15,000 copies
after the first few issues.
Published today by Metro Publishing and Consultancy
Limited, metro eireann is non-political
and non-campaigning, but celebrates and creates cross-cultural understanding
and cooperation through its contents. It also promotes diversity through the
arts, entertainment and metro eireann
debates.
metro eireann
reflects the new diversity in Ireland. With writers coming from all walks
of life, it tells the stories of immigrants and ethnic minorities. Contributors
include ordinary men and women - Irish and from all over the world - living
in Ireland. Roddy Doyle and Fintan O’Toole, Alex Pascall and Ronit Lentin
are among the prominent columnists.
Two years later and there is an increase in the
number of Irish people and immigrants alike demanding access to metro eireann in newsagents. metro eireann is therefrore now available
in local newsagents on the first week of every month - at the cost of only
EURO1. It is the best monthly value
available.
metro eireann
is continuously improving, with more new sections being introduced. It also
covers matters such as employment rights, human-interest stories and even
gives recipes from all around the world. metro
eireann also hopes to soon publish some pages in other languages apart
from the English and French currently available to readers.
This year saw the introduction of MAMA, metro eireann Media and Multicultural Awards,
which is to become an annual event. The awards, which has given culture to
the media in Ireland, aim to recognise and celebrate the unique contributions
of diverse people and organisation towards promoting cross-cultural understanding
and cooperation in the State. It was supported by Black Irish soccer star
Paul McGrath.
Over the years metro eireann has seen the huge
contributions of many people towards uniting the different peoples from over
160 countries of the world that now live in Ireland. These great contributions
will have to be rewarded if interculturalism must forge ahead. MAMA also sets
out to find some of the burning issues regarding the quest for a multicultural
Ireland, and who is making efforts in its promotion. Often, things are easier
said than done.
The experience so far has been that the Government,
opposition groups, politicians and public representatives have been advocating
the need to accept the changing Ireland without always putting in place the
necessary tools needed to adapt to that change. The slow implementation of
State programmes and policies - especially anti-racism issues and campaigns
designed to show and encourage differences be it in religion, culture, colour
or nationality - has been left in the hands of liberal individuals, community
groups and statutory bodies. metro eireann also tells of and appreciates their
efforts.
Simply put, metro
eireann shows and encourages differences in Ireland.
Contact: news@metroeireann.com or phone: (01) 869
06 70. or visit our website: www.metroeireann.com
Chinedu Onyejelem©
(chinedu@ireland.com)
5.4. Print Journalism: Workshop Session
This panel was followed by two separate workshops,
one headed by Chinedu Onjeyelam and the other by Nuala Haughey.
Nuala Haughey workshop
The key theme of this discussion was the importance
of open journalism, and the need for balance and objectivity in coverage of
issues relating to immigration, racism and interculturalism. In response to
questions about why certain important stories were frequently ignored, Haughey
explained that failure to cover certain issues is not always linked to race
or class. She stressed that, although there is a Dublin 4 bias in the sense
that decision-makers set the agenda and sources that have power get coverage,
there are also significant time constraints in the media.
One participant asked why Aine Ni Chonaill of the
Immigration Control Platform was given media coverage. Haughey explained that
The Irish Times will try to give
coverage to opposing points of view. Haughey gave an example of how a group
as small as Ni Chonaill’s once received disproportionate coverage due to the
fact that a story about the Immigration Control Platform was featured on a
regional notebook page, where photographs are usually larger than on general
home news pages.
A core question raised was how to empower certain
groups so that they can demand media coverage of critical issues. The role
of the PR company in the Know Racism
campaign was cited.
Haughey argued that, with the increase in consumption
of entertainment media, it seems that citizens are less and less concerned
with social and political issues. She also pointed to the lack of self-reflexivity
and criticism within the Irish media, i.e. it does not self-question its role
and responsibilities sufficiently.
One contributor remarked on the absence of representatives
from other newspapers. It was explained by the organisers that all national
newspapers were invited to cover the event but not to present because none
of them, with the exception of The Irish
Times, has a specialist correspondent devoted to intercultural issues.
One participant asked what potential the internet
might offer in terms of giving positive views on immigration and interculturalism?
Susan O'Donnell and Brian Trench's (DCU) work with community groups, women's
groups, etc. was cited, in which they examine the potential use of the internet
for challenging social norms and creating subversive or alternative discursive
spaces in the public sphere.
[31]
Indimedia.ie was also mentioned. Although Haughey agreed,
she raised the point that the internet is largely unpoliced, so as well as
accommodating alternative journalism it also hosts racist websites.
Ronan Brady and Chinedu Onjeyelam workshop
The key topics addressed in this workshop were:
1. Incitement to hatred Act
Can it be activated regarding
some press reportage?
Can moral persuasion be used
against offending journalists?
What is the role of the NUJ
in this regard?
2. The origin and development of Metro Eireann
Plans to expand distribution
One participant asked why young people were not
mobilising around racism issues and suggested that perhaps a youth awareness
programme was needed. Other questions raised were: Has SLATE helped or hindered
youth interest in racism and intercultural issues? and How can young people
be engaged?
One participant asked how terms such as 'non-national'
in news coverage shape public perceptions about people from other countries.
This question led to a discussion of Section 19 of the Refugee Act, which
concerns the interviewing of refugees. The questions addressed were: Does
it restrict a) journalistic freedom b) refugee freedom? and Does it protect
the vulnerable from the press?
One participant asked how the 'radical left' could
get coverage in a conservative press. Possible strategies suggested included:
·Make
personal contacts available and establish credibility
·Write
to the Letters page
·Complain
to the Readers' Desk
·Publish
in fringe papers with credibility and then seek coverage in main papers.
Further
reading / resources on this subject
·
Nuala
Haughey, 'The Media and Racism' in Responding
to Racism in Ireland, edited by Fintan Farrell and Philip Watt. (Dublin,
Ireland: Veritas, 2001).
·
Susan
O'Donnell and Brian Trench. 'The Internet and the Expansion of Democratic
Practices in Ireland' (paper presented at Ireland, Europe and the Global Information
Society: A Conference for Social Scientists, Dublin 24-25 April 1997).
6.Public Information
6.1. Public Information Campaigns: Defining Audiences and Objectives
The issue of audiences was explored in more detail
in the panel on Public Information, chaired by Philip Watt of the National
Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, and featuring presentations
on the ‘Know Racism’ campaign (by Mohammed Haji), the ‘Citizen Traveller’
communications campaign (by Jacinta Brack) and Amnesty International’s ‘Leadership
Against Racism’ campaign (by Fiona Crowley). All of the Public Information
presentations highlighted both the role of market research and the important
contribution of designers in developing campaigns.
Mohammed Haji provided an overview of the development
and implementation of ‘Know Racism’ campaign, developed in partnership with
the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and various NGOs.
[32]
The objectives of the campaign were to address
racism and promote a more inclusive intercultural society. The first phase
focused on the analysis of racism in the Irish context and on the production
of a logo/identity.
Subsequent projects included the funding of various
local initiatives (including the Forum on Media and Interculturalism at DCU),
a workplace programme in partnership with the Equality Authority, the launch
of a CD of anti-racism songs, an emblem by John Rocha, a billboard and leaflet
campaign, a series of bursaries for postgraduate researchers
[33]
and the second series of Mono.
Haji did not elaborate on the principles informing
the programme in his presentation but the ‘Know Racism’ website provides an
insight. The website is oriented specifically towards the ‘host’ Irish community,
as illustrated by the following statement by Joe McDonagh, chairperson of
the Steering Group; ‘Ireland has undergone major changes in the past few years.
Our society is now a multicultural society. We must accept the responsibilities
and challenges that change brings us. Irish people are traditionally generous,
friendly and hospitable. It would be wrong to allow fear of strangers and
intolerance to spoil this traditional spirit and change our attitudes towards
the minority ethnic people who live and work among us’.
[34]
This mode of address tends to reinforce the notion
that Irish society was somehow homogenous prior to the arrival of the ‘new
minorities’. The Billboard campaign (featuring Jason Sherlock) attempts to
open up definitions of ethnic difference, by invoking the notion of the ‘Dub’,
but this approach is somewhat undermined by the emphasis on producing a ‘positive
image’.
The Citizen Traveller media campaign, presented
by Jacinta Brack, developed over a period of time and involved the participation
of various agencies and organisations representing Travellers. The campaign
was informed by, and aimed to further, the work of many such groups. It was
intended to ‘promote the visibility and participation of Travellers within
Irish society, to nurture the development of Traveller pride and self confidence,
and to give Travellers a sense of community identity that could be expressed
internally and externally’.
[35]
One
particular set of Billboards, which explored Travellers multiple identities
(in Feb 2000) had a major impact within the Traveller community. It provides
an interesting example of a media intervention oriented towards multiple audiences,
a characteristic of the Citizen Traveller campaign as a whole.
One of the notable elements of the Citizen Traveller project was its emphasis on market research and its targeting of ‘neutral’ sections of the mainstream Irish population (50% of those surveyed had neutral feelings about the Traveller Community). Another important aspect was the emphasis on the recognition of Travellers as ‘a distinct group with their own unique cultural and identity’ as a basis for rights to appropriate accommodation, health care and education. But the Government’s failure to follow through on plans for appropriate accommodation [36] has undermined the achievement of its specific social and political objectives and prompted Citizen Traveller to produce an extremely high profile critique of recent ‘anti-Traveller’ legislation. [37]
Previously, this type of overt criticism had largely
been restricted to organisations, such as Amnesty International, which are
not dependent on government funding. In her presentation, Fiona Crowley foregrounded
the organisational differences between Amnesty and other NGOs. She focused
on the Leadership Against Racism campaign, developed in the lead up to the
World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in 2001. The campaign was directly
linked to a series of surveys carried out by Amnesty within two distinct constituencies.
The first survey focused on levels of racism in
Ireland and it suggested that while a minority of those interviewed were opposed
to greater ethnic diversity, at least a third were ambivalent. Amnesty interpreted
these findings as evidence of a need for political leadership against racism
and produced a billboard and newsprint campaign (featuring images of politicians)
to highlight government inaction. In the second phase, Amnesty researched
the views of ethnic minorities in Ireland. These findings were advertised
in a newsprint ad, featuring a photograph of an ethnic minority model and
bearing the caption: “She comes from a place where she’s spat at and discriminated
against. Ireland”.
[38]
6.2 Why is interculturalism replacing the outmoded concepts of multiculturalism and assimilation? Philip Watt, National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism
An Intercultural approach believes that the culture
of the minority group is important and requires recognition and acceptance.
An intercultural approach also requires that we focus attention and
become aware of the accepted norms within the dominant culture.
Key to the development of an intercultural approach is that attention
is focused on the interaction between the dominant and minority ethnic communities. This invariable leads to a reflection on issues
of how power is distributed in society and as to how decision-making is organised
in society. The development of an
intercultural approach implies the development of policy that promotes interaction,
understanding and integration among and between different cultures and ethnic
groups on the assumption that ethnic diversity can enrich society, without
glossing over issues such as racism.
The concept of interculturalism has evolved over
time and is now replacing earlier concepts such as policies based on assimilation
and increasingly interculturalism is replacing the concept of multiculturalism.
The assimilationist approach viewed ethnic diversity as divisive and
conflictual and tended to assume that minority groups were deficient, deprived
and lacking in cultural capital. The assimilationist approach promoted the absorption
of minorities into the dominant culture in the belief that that the socialisation
of all into a shared value system was the only way forward. The aim of this
approach was to make minority ethnic groups as invisible as possible.
The multicultural approach marked an important
progression from the assimilationist approach and acknowledged the need for
the recognition and celebration of different cultures and economic and social
support for their integration into society.
However, multiculturalism has been criticised as continuing to advocate
that it was up to minorities to change and adapt in order to succeed, without
any significant acknowledgement that racism exists and needs to be challenged
through public policy. The emphasis
of the multicultural approach is on the need for ‘toleration’ and ‘better
community relations’ rather than acknowledging the need to change the negative
attitudes and practices of the majority population.
The concept of interculturalism is increasingly
being advocated by the European Commission in its policy statements and through
specific programmes. Intercultural approaches are increasingly being applied
to policy areas in Ireland, particularly in relation to education policy,
and is one of the principles underpinning the recent White Paper on adult
Education.
Philip Watt© (nccri@eircom.net)
6.3. Amnesty International’s Irish Section’s Print Campaign “Leadership Against Racism”, Fiona Crowley, Legal Officer
In preparation for the World Conference Against
Racism (WCAR) last year, Amnesty began a worldwide campaign to highlight the
international human right to be free from all forms of racism, and the obligation
of the international community to ensure its respect.
To complement this, Amnesty’s Irish Section launched
its national campaign in May 2001. We published the results of a survey of
1,200 Irish people, which, while revealing worrying levels of antipathy towards
ethnic minorities - only 32% said they could form a friendship with a black
person, for instance - indicated that only a minority were opposed to greater
ethnic diversity, and almost a third were ‘ambivalent’, hence open to persuasion.
This illustrated our campaign’s central and recurring message, the need for
government Leadership Against Racism.
A memorable part of this first phase of our campaign
for many was the billboard and poster bearing photographs of the Taoiseach,
Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, with the caption:
“Some say they’re involved in racism. Others say they’re doing nothing
about it.”
This was reproduced in a full-page advertisement
in national newspapers, with accompanying text explaining the rationale behind
the campaign. The purpose was to confront the government directly, and to
provoke debate on a problem worryingly neglected. Public and media reaction
was dramatic, and, even beyond our hopes, discussion of racism abounded on
the airwaves and in the public arena. It was firmly on the political agenda.
We produced an information and action pack, which
was distributed widely throughout the country and to every member of government.
Eight key recommendations to the government - drawn from the 37 submitted
by Amnesty to the WCAR - were publicly promoted via the information pack and
advertisement. We conducted a review of existing research on racism in Ireland
and published a summary thereof in July 2001, designed to complement the information
pack.
In September, to coincide with the WCAR, we launched
the second phase with sorely needed research into the views of black and ethnic
minorities towards racism in Ireland. This portrayed the reality for those
on the frontline, and marked a sea change in public and media opinion towards
our campaign, until then seen by some as overstating the case. It could no
longer convincingly be denied that racism had a foothold in Ireland, and newspaper
editorials and articles applauded our efforts. We ran another full-page press
advertisement, universally welcomed, bearing a photograph of an ethnic minority
model, with the caption:
“She comes from a place where
she’s spat at and discriminated against. Ireland”
and summarising the survey’s
findings and recommendations.
This year, to highlight government inaction in
the face of blatant incitement of hostility towards asylum seekers in Cork
by Noel O’Flynn TD in the run-up to the general election, we ran another advertisement
in the Irish Examiner, almost identical to the previous advertisement, the
caption reading Cork instead of Ireland. Interestingly, many reacted with
protests of denial of the existence of any racism in Cork. The message that
Cork is not free from racism, and that Mr. O’ Flynn’s comments should be judged
in this light, some curiously interpreted as branding Cork as more racist
than anywhere else.
Amnesty’s role is to identify and expose states’
failure to safeguard the rights of those within their jurisdiction. There
is room for many approaches to anti-racism campaigning in Ireland. Addressing
public opinion is the government’s responsibility. Our focus is different:
in a hard-hitting way, we must challenge the government on its shortcomings
in addressing the march of public and institutional racism in Ireland.
Racism is often an unpopular and difficult subject.
But if we are to take on this issue, we must not shy from calling things as
they are. If some have reacted badly to our campaign, many more tell us they
have been enlightened. We cannot hope to persuade everyone, but, so long as
politicians and the government hear our message loud and clear, we are doing
the job mandated by our membership.
Fiona Crowley© (fcrowley@amnesty.iol.ie)
(For further information contact Amnesty's new
Anti-Racism Officer, Katarina Goldstone, gkatarina@amnesty.iol.ie )
6.4. Citizen Traveller: An Overview, Jacinta Brack
Report of the Task Force on the Traveller Community
Section (A) - Specifically influenced the development
of the Communications campaign under two headings:
Relationships between the Traveller and settled
communities
The Role of the Media
The media is a prime source of information for
people and therefore has an important role to play in addressing relationships
within a culturally diverse society. The media can challenge or reinforce
racist images, attitudes and behaviour. In a situation of minimal contact
“settled” people obtain most of their information about Travellers from the
media
Recommendations to the Media
The media should adopt a more pro active approach
on issues of concern to and relating to the Traveller community , in consultation
where necessary with Traveller orgs.(Provision of more programme time on Radio
& TV and more print features such as Traveller culture, lifestyles and
achievements.
NUJ Guidelines on Race Reporting - be developed
into Code of Practice
Campaign Objectives
To build on and enhance the work of Traveller organisations
to:
To assist in changing common misconceptions related
to the Traveller community
To create an environment to position Travellers
as an ethnic group within Irish society with their own distinct culture
To promote
and encourage the Traveller community to embrace their identity in a positive
way
Audiences To Be Addressed
Travellers, Traveller Organisations, General Public,
Key Opinion Leaders, Oireachtas, the Gardai, the Media, Trade Unions, Community,
Educational and Religious Institutions / Organisations, Local Authorities
/ Health Boards, Trade Associations / Resident Associations, Judiciary, Commercial
Organisations
Issues To Be Addressed
Discrimination and Social Exclusion, Education,
Accommodation, Health and General Welfare, Equal Status, Recognition of Travellers
as distinct group with their own unique culture and identity
Market Research: The Results
“Feelings about Travellers / Traveller Community”
26% had positive feelings about Travellers
50% had neutral feelings about Travellers
24% had negative feelings about Travellers
“Agreed with statements”
91 % many people would objects to Travellers being
accommodated close to their home
90% believe rubbish and litter give Travellers
a bad name
84% believe Travellers get a bad image because
of the actions of a few
Market Research: Trigger Points
76% of people surveyed were Neutral / Positive
Age Group: Strongly felt in the over 35 age group
Accommodation: 91% objection
83% positive about Traveller culture and identity
Meeting Objectives
Citizen Traveller has met objectives through the
following:
Extensive cross representation of Traveller related
issues in all media forms throughout the campaign
Representation of individual Travellers in the
media both as spokespeople and deliverers of media
Liaison with media bodies including the NUJ / Broadcast
Complaints Commission on the issue of balance in media reporting of Traveller
issues
Development of a range of public & media education
initiatives including:
Traveller Focus Week
Regional media roadshow of workshops
Accommodation Direct Mail Campaigns
Accommodation Best Practice Forums
National and Regional Print series
Presentations to senior bodies & groups
Traveller Culture & Heritage Exhibition
Dissemination of public information
Training for Traveller organisations and Capacity
Building
Sample
Campaign Highlights
(Nov 1999)
Broadcast of “Voices of the Traveller
Community” major positive public response
- 400 calls by members of the public giving reaction
to adverts
- 9 out of 10 positive calls
- 1 out of 10 negative related to Traveller accommodation
- 500 Information Packs distributed
Audience
reach : 995,890 adults in Ireland heard adverts at least once
(Feb 2000) Outdoor Advertising Campaign
“It’s Time
To See Travellers As People With Their Own Culture, Needs and Contribution”
National 1 month campaign - major impact on Traveller
community
Portrayed Travellers in a real and personal way
“What They Said” Irish Times Series
“Congratulations to the Irish Times and particularly
to Kitty Holland on your most interesting and enlightening series on the Citizen
Traveller Campaign.
Ms Holland’s
interviews have made a significant contributing to dispelling some of the
destructive myths which so often characterise relationships between the Travelling
and settled communities. You are to be commended for your commitment to better
understanding” Mary Banotti MEP- European
Parliament Irish Times 13th March 2000
(Oct 2000) Regional Media Workshops
8 Locations throughout Ireland with 20 Editors
/ Journalists including Senior Editorial staff of the Independent Group of
Newspapers
Topics discussed:
Code of Practice on Reporting of Traveller Issues
Progress of Traveller issues in Ireland
(Oct / Nov 2000) Traveller Accommodation Campaign launched through Outdoor Advertising,
Direct Mail initiative and Accommodation Best Practice Forums
“
Good accommodation for Travellers means good neighbourhoods”
National Billboard Campaign - 2 weeks
Mailing to 10,000 Households in 2 areas (Clondalkin
/ Tallaght & Tullamore)
Best Practice Forums in 2 areas
Sample
Highlights
(July 2001)
Accommodation Focused Campaign
Press Conference
National attitudinal barometer survey with settled
Irish people - benchmarking change in attitudes over 2 year period
Outdoor Advertising - 143 sites 2 weeks National
& 50 sites for 4 weeks
Radio Advertising - National placement 1 week
Measuring
Total Audience Reach via Public Relations
Combined Media Impressions Created
National TV
5.9 Million Viewers
National Radio
4.2 Million Listeners
National Print
35.8 Million Readers
Regional Print
3.8 Million Readers
Regional Radio
5.9 Million Listeners
Measuring Total Audience Reach via Advertising
& Direct Marketing
Combined Audience Reach Radio Advertising
Of all Irish adults who heard radio advertising
a total of 4.9 million people heard adverts at least once over the 6 phases
of broadcast outdoor Advertising - Poster Impact (average) on 1st 2 campaigns
- 2nd highest rating in Ireland on 3rd campaign 4.19 out of 5.00 on scale
rating 16,000 House holds received Direct Mail
Measuring Change in Public Opinion
Omnibus Survey - revisited in 2001
In 1999 one third of Irish people questioned nominated
Travellers as an issue felt strongly about - In 2001 this was 1 in 4, suggesting
that strength of feeling has been removed from the issue over this period
of time.
The most evident change of feeling has been amongst
people aged over 35 from working class backgrounds living in major urban areas,
particularly Dublin & Munster
Measuring Change in Public Opinion
Fundamental attitudes towards Travellers have not
changed to any significant degree in the two year period being reviewed, and
remains:
25% Positive
52% Neutral
23% Negative
Significantly changes in attitude on the positive
scale have come to the fore and in particular on issues highlighted through
the Citizen Traveller campaign
Positive changes in attitudes
1999 2001
They are the same as the rest of us
20% 12%
They deserve decent housing/ amenities
0% 11%
I believe the Govt should provide major
62% 65%
investment to tackle the problems Travellers have
Accommodation for Travellers should be a
52% 55%
priority for Local Authorities
Travellers are exactly like the rest of the 43% 37%
Community
Aware of Citizen Traveller
17%
Aware of Traveller Focus Week
14%
Outdoor Advertising Recall x 2 campaigns 22%
Media Archive
Established a Traveller media monitoring service
& archive related to Traveller Accommodation, Discrimination and Health.
Over 4,500 individual press cutting data entries
have been computerised and analysed and are available to all Traveller organisations
throughout Ireland.
Random and specific monitoring of radio shows is
also carried out
Public Response
Since it’s launch in October 1999 Citizen Traveller
has responded to a huge number of requests and queries and to date has distributed
approx 3,000 Information Packs
These requests were generated by the following:
General
public, Volunteer supporters, Students, Teachers, Schools, Media, Various
Government Departments, Health Boards, Education and Social Services Ireland
& UK, Social Justice Departments, Third Level Colleges, Social Justice Groups, Local Authorities, Gardai,
Trade Unions
Jacinta Brack© (citizentraveller@iol.ie)
6.5. Public Information Campaigns: Workshop Session
This workshop did not split into separate groups.
Philip Watt initiated the workshop by asking participants to spend 2 minutes
talking to their 'neighbour' about themselves, and asking questions about
the other person.
One of the most interesting topics to emerge from
this discussion was a comparison between the confrontational approach to racism
taken by Amnesty International, which has been relentlessly critical of the
Irish government's handling of the problem, and the more assimilationist model
being used by the Know Racism Campaign,
a government initiative funded by the Department of Justice, Equality and
Law Reform. Questions asked regarding the Amnesty International Campaign were:
Did it have an impact? and Is a confrontational approach useful? A debate
followed on the merits of confrontation (change policy) versus persuasion
(education), although it was conceded by most contributors that it is difficult
to evaluate the impact of both approaches. It was argued that, in the case
of the travelling community, it may be much more productive to engage with
positive images of Travellers, given that they themselves may feel that they
have enough conflict and confrontation in their daily lives. It was also asked
whether, given that polls indicated that 50 % of Irish people were neutral
about immigration, it was worth pitching an aggressive campaign against the
hostile 25%.
The Know
Racism campaign was discussed in some detail, in particular the poster
campaign featuring Jason Sherlock. This instigated a debate as to whether
the campaign mobilised a strategy of acceptance or assimilation, which in
turn engendered the following questions: If difference is to be accepted into
the wider community, then on what terms? and What is the "common community"?
Again the question of citizenship was raised, and it was debated as to whether
somebody has to be an Irish citizen to be accepted or treated equally. One
participant asked to what extent citizenship was about legal status, responsibilities
or rights.
The key conclusions reached were:
·
Different
campaigns can be equally effective
·
Outside
events can impact on campaigns
·
Campaigns
needs to engage with the groups in question and not disempower or alienate
them
·
Campaigns
should evaluate the impact of their activities
Finally, the use of advertising agencies in public
awareness and education campaigns was addressed. This was considered by most
to be a difficult issue, given that most of the agencies in question were
unlikely to be well informed about models and strategies of interculturalism.
It was agreed that advertising and PR agencies need to be clearly briefed
in order to gain a thorough understanding of the issues and ideologies.
Further
reading / resources on this subject
·
Kensika
Monshengwo, 'The Potential of Public Awareness Programmes' in Responding to Racism in Ireland edited
by Fintan Farrell and Philip Watt (Dublin: Veritas, 2001).
7. Broadcast Drama
7.1 Broadcast Drama: Genres, Producers and Audiences
The panel on Broadcast Drama featured presentations
on the ‘Ashti’ story in RTE’s Fair City
(by Mary Halpin, member of scriptwriting team) and on Black Day at Black Rock (by writer-director
Gerry Stembridge) and was introduced by Barbara O’Connor, Lecturer in Communications
at Dublin City University. O’Connor emphasised the importance of the media
in relation to the representation (or the exclusion) of particular groups
within Irish society, such as Travellers or women.
She noted that Irish culture had been historically
characterised by secrecy, with the result that many of the issues excluded
from the spheres of documentary, current affairs or news could only be expressed
through drama or fiction and she cited The Riordans as an example. She suggested that, because soap operas
invite empathy with characters or situations over an extended period of time,
complex issues could be explored through character. O’Connor also raised the issue of production contexts, noting that
certain modes of production seem to limit coverage of social or political
issues
[39]
and she questioned the extent
to which television drama addressed specific audiences (as in the case of
the public information campaigns).
Mary Halpin provided an overview of the Fair City production process. She emphasised
that scripts were produced by a team of writers and that characters and storylines
were developed over time. She noted that instead of introducing
‘issues’ into the drama, Fair City writers generally explored situations
arising from the actions of established characters. But they decided to deal
with the issue of racism and intolerance more directly, by devising the character
of ‘Ashti’, a Kurdish asylum-seeker.
[40]
The initial episodes had focused on the responses
(and in some cases prejudices) of established Fair City characters but, as the story progressed, details about Ashti’s
past (including his experience of torture) began to emerge. The story reached
a dramatic climax, culminating in Ashti’s departure, although it remained
likely that his character would be reintroduced at some point in the future.
Halpin emphasised that the storyline had been carefully researched, with advice
from organisations such as the Irish Refugee Council. This process informed
the development of a largely sympathetic character, whose actions were explained
by the gradual introduction of a background history.
The storyline seems to have gradually shifted away
from an initial focus on racism and xenophobia and began to deal with the
criminalisation of Asylum-seekers and immigrants such as Ashti, echoing events
from contemporary news stories. The dramatic conventions of the soap may have
contributed to the sensationalisation of certain events but Fair City clearly attempted to foreground
the type of personal narratives excluded from news media.
In contrast with the team-based approach to soap
operas, Gerry Stembridge noted that Black
Day at Black Rock was primarily a solo project. He emphasised that his
portrayal of racism and xenophobia in Irish society was informed by personal
experience (including a period spent in Romanian, working with Romanian and
Irish actors), rather than advice from expert groups. He also explained his
decision to focus on Irish culture and society in terms of a reluctance to
attempt to represent the experiences of others. He also pointed out that RTE
had a responsibility to represent a diversity of views by commissioning more
drama.
[41]
Stembridge’s film references John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock (1954), which stars
Spencer Tracy as a victim of prejudice in a small mid-western town. There
are notable differences between the two films, however. In the 1954 film,
Tracy’s arrival on a high-speed train introduces a contrast between urban
modernity and typically ‘Western’ values. The small town appears to be relic
of the past but a closer examination reveals evidence of contemporary Cold
War paranoia (the militaristic ‘Jeep’ has replaced the horse, for example).
So, despite the generic character of both its setting and characters, Bad Day at Black Rock is resolutely historical.
Stembridge’s narrative deals with the fear and
prejudice directed towards outsiders but the action takes place before they
arrive. ‘Black Rock’ is represented as an idealised rural village with close-knit
social relations, despite obvious class barriers. The 1950s costume and design
may be intended to echo Sturges’ film but the interaction between the characters,
explained in terms of their status as ‘villagers’, remains unconvincing. It
could be argued that the film suffers from an absence of geographical and
historical specificity, and critics have suggested that instead of holding
a mirror up to rural Ireland, it simply pokes fun at it.
[42]
Stembridge’s focus on class is especially problematic.
In his presentation he emphasised that he was particularly concerned to critique
the ‘middle class liberal’ response to racism but by indexing prejudice according
to class (whereby the caravan-dweller is an outspoken racist and the organic
farmer is a liberal) it could be argued that the film fails to go beyond the
reproduction of familiar stereotypes.
7.2 The Portrayal of Immigrants in Fair City - Mary Halpin
We decided to introduce an immigration story to
Fair City because we hadn’t tackled the subject before; it was seen as relevant
and we felt we could tell it through character, rather than as an ‘issue’. We generally avoid addressing issues per se
in the series, though many issues have been put under the dramatic microscope
when they arise out of our characters’ actions.
We had many discussions as to what type of immigration
story to use. We could have focussed
on, for instance, an Afro-American character working in the country quite
legally. We decided on making our
immigrant an illegal one, both because it seemed more dramatic and because
we could better reflect some of the contentious local attitudes to these people.
In our story,
Christy Phelan, one of the three owners of the local store, was actively
seeking an extra worker - preferably one who came cheap! He was introduced to Ashti a Kurdish immigrant,
and the story began. Ashti was seen
through the eyes of several other characters, with differing attitudes to
his presence in Carrigstown. Some
racist views were expressed by characters such as Floyd and by Christy himself, but others had a more compassionate
view of Ashti, although nobody initially realised the depth of his plight.
As the story progressed, a kind of love developed
between Ashti and Renee, Christy’s wife which inflamed Christy’s antagonism
to Ashti still further. There were several different strands to the story,
including a comic one in which Eunice Phelan, Christy’s mother, imagines she
was Ashti’s wife in a previous existence.
It was gradually revealed that while Ashti was
a true political refugee, in fear of his life should he return home, his friend
Sadiya was an economic migrant with more to lose were she to be discovered
by the authorities. Ashti had been
tortured by the authorities in his country and still bore the scars. But he couldn’t turn himself in to the Irish
authorities because he had more than a political motive for being in Carrigstown.
He wanted to track down Steve, the driver who had brought him, along
with several other refugees into Ireland.
Steve hadn’t bothered to stop the container when Ashti’s nephew, who
was travelling along with him, took ill. The boy died and Steve simply disposed of him
at the side of the road. Ashti couldn’t
forgive him and wanted retribution. In
this element of the story, we were reflecting events in England which had
already happened. Tragically, they
were soon to be played out in this country as well.
The conclusion, of this part of the story, saw
Ashti being taken in by the authorities and he is currently awaiting a decision
on his status in the country. We will
no doubt be returning to see the outcome at some time in the future. Although
the story had a superficially ‘happy’ ending with Steve’s arrest and order
restored in the Phelan household, I believe that it was not neatly wrapped
up as it might be in a one off drama. Ashti’s
fate remains uncertain, the prejudices of many who objected to his presence
in our country (with the exception of Christy’s) remained intact and so the
issue of immigration remains very much open in the series as in life.
Mary
Halpin (mhalpin@gofree.indigo.ie)
7.3. Broadcast Drama: Workshop Session
The discussion began with a series of issues relating
to the Ashti character in Fair City.
Questions asked from the floor were: Why was an Irish actor used? Why was
he Kurdish? Why a man as opposed to a woman? One participant suggested that
they chose the soft option by not having an African character. However, Halpin
maintained that it was in fact more challenging to have an 'illegal' immigrant
as opposed to, for example, an African doctor who is well established in the
community.
In response to some criticisms of Black Day at Black Rock, Stembridge argued
that TV drama can only handle some issues. The question also arose as to what
extent the national broadcaster is responsible for incorporating such storylines
in its dramas. This led to the suggestion that ethnic minorities should be
looking to get involved in broadcast media at the production level. It was
widely agreed, however, that this will only happen when a critical mass has
been achieved of writer, actors, directors, etc.
When asked about the feedback / audience response
to Black Day at Black Rock, Stembridge
said it was, on the whole, very positive. Audiences in Ireland clearly felt
that the drama was effective in terms of challenging racist attitudes. However,
he thought it was possible that some visually illiterate members of the audience
may have missed the hyperreal context and the fact that the stereotyping of
the Irish characters was intentional. One participant suggested that by stereotyping
the racist characters, the production spoke more to the 'converted' as opposed
to the people who were actually like that in reality.
Further
reading / resources on this subject
·
Gavan
Titley, 'Cultivating Habitats of Meaning - Broadcasting, Participation and
Interculturalism' in forthcoming issue of Irish
Communications Review (http://www.icr.dit.ie )
8. Broadcast Documentary & Current Affairs
8.1. Broadcast Documentary & Current Affairs: Overview
Martin McCabe, of the Dublin Institute of Technology,
introduced presentations on No Man’s
Land (by directors Neasa Ni Chianin and David Rane of Vinegar Hill Productions)
and on RTE’s magazine series Mono (by
co-presenter Bisi Adigun). McCabe noted that although the previous panel had
explored the distinctions between drama and documentary, it was also possible
to identify intersections between these genres in terms of modes of address.
In their presentation, Ni Chianin and Rane provided
an overview of the research and production of No Man’s Land, a documentary commissioned and broadcast by RTE. They
noted that their production company was initially based in Wexford, a point
of entry for many asylum-seekers. They film charts the process of acquiring
refugee status and it includes footage of hostels and interviews with government
agencies, as well as more personal commentaries exploring the aspirations
and motivations of asylum-seekers.
The film also incorporated a considerable amount
of detail on the legal system and the appeals process. Ni Chianin and Rane
noted that, as legislation prevented them from revealing the identities of
Asylum-seekers, access to certain venues was often difficult and, in order
to resolve this problem, they had to employ ‘guerrilla tactics’ and arrive
unannounced. In spite of the ban RTÉ agreed to broadcast the documentary.
Both the film and follow-up projects by Vinegar Hill (on the children on asylum-seekers)
are represented on the RTÉ website, together with further information on the
asylum process.
No Man’s
Land covered
many of the same issues addressed through the character of Ashti in Fair City and, arguably, would have benefited
from a extended series format. But the ‘diary’ format did foreground the asylum-process
as a system, a perspective that might have been lost in a ‘docu-soap’ format.
In his presentation on Mono, Bisi Adigun noted that first series of the programme had been
primarily concerned with the personal experiences of ethnic minorities living
in Ireland and had generally focused on ‘positive’ stories. He emphasised
that although the second series (planned for Spring/Summer 2002) would continue
to include this type of material, it would also aim to address more problematic
issues facing minorities. Mono remains
limited by its structure and format, with each programme divided into two
or three segments. The magazine format remains inappropriate for investigation
or in-depth analysis and it seems clear that Mono cannot continue to fulfil such a range of roles.
Adigun also noted that, while he and Shalini Sinha
had acquired a prominent profile as presenters, neither was heavily involved
in the production or research of the programme. He suggested that, in addition
to employing presenters or performers from ethnic minorities, RTÉ would have
to aim towards greater diversity in development and production.
8.2. Broadcast Documentary and Current Affairs: Workshop Sessions
Again, in this workshop, the issue of interviewing
legislation was raised in connection with the Refugee Act (whereby it is illegal
for media to interview refugees) with a view to protecting the rights of the
refugee / asylum-seeker. This posed very serious problems in the production
of No Man's Land and the directors/producers explained in some detail the
various legal and administrative obstacles which they had to overcome. According
to Rane and Ni Chianin, No Man's Land was met with a positive response from
the public and journalists, and there was no reaction officially.
The discussion on Mono focussed on the aims and
objectives of the programme, which according to presenter Bisi Adigun are
to entertain and educate at the same time. When asked, for example, why a
discussion format was avoided, Adigun claimed that this was because other
programmes already do this. He stressed that Mono is not aimed at a minority
audience, and is targeted at the general public with a view to challenging
perceived notions of what it means to be Irish. This led to some discussion
about the ethics of speaking on behalf of others.
One participant asked whether media companies were
colour-blind, citing an example of 'positive discrimination' within the public
service remit in Britain whereby the BBC regularly visit Luton University
to recruit their quota of black TV staff. It was asked, for example, how long
it would take before the news in Ireland is presented by people of different
ethnic origins.
9. Conclusions: Irish Media and Interculturalism
In very general terms it is possible to categorise
recent media interventions in terms of an emphasis on either ‘cultural identity’
or ‘human rights’. The work of Amnesty International, The Irish Times and Vinegar Hill tends
to foreground the issue of human rights and is less concerned with interculturalism.
In contrast, the Citizen Traveller project, like the work of educators in
TCD and in SALIS, explores cultural change and conflict within Irish society.
The work of the NCCA indicates some acknowledgment
of existing cultural conflict but, like the ‘Know Racism’ campaign, metro
eireann and Mono, it tends to focus on the ‘reflection’
of an Irish society that is ‘already multicultural’. This approach leads to
the production of positive (if not celebratory) representations of ethnic
groups, largely aimed towards mainstream audiences.
Despite the valuable contribution that they have
made in terms of raising public awareness of racism and interculturalism,
many recent initiatives in broadcasting, public information campaigns and
print journalism have failed to adequately examine the relation between media
and citizen formation. Some of the media campaigns or strategies are oriented
towards constituencies of readers or viewers without any substantial critical
reflection on the processes through which these constituencies are formed.
A number of specific points were also raised repeatedly
in the presentations (and in workshop discussions). These include the need
for guidance, in the place of coercive regulation, with regard to the representation
of minority groups across Irish media and the importance of greater diversity
within journalism and broadcasting. Several participants also noted that while
the experience of emigration does not serve as any guarantee against racism
in Irish society, it might serve as an important focal point within a broad
programme of citizenship education in Irish schools.
10. Published Resources
Balibar, Etienne and Wallerstein, Immanuel, Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities
(London and New York: Verso, 1991).
Balibar, Etienne ‘Es Gibt Keinan Staat in Europa:
Racism and Politics in Europe Today’, New Left Review 186, Mar/Apr (1991), pp. 5-19.
Chicago Cultural Studies Group, ‘Critical Multiculturalism’,
Critical Inquiry 18, Spring (1992),
pp. 530-555.
Cohen, Phil, 'Perversions of inheritance: studies
in the making of multi-racist Britain,' in Cohen, Phil and Baines, H., ed.s,
Multi-Racist Britain (London : Macmillan.
1988).
Commission
on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, The
Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: The Parekh Report (London: Profile Books,
2000). http://www.runnymedetrust.org/meb/TheReport.htm
Corcoran, Farrel, ‘The refugee challenge for Ireland:
Cultural globalisation or identity crisis?’, Media Development 3 (1998) pp. 3-6.
Dadzie, Stella. Blood, Sweat and Tears: A report of the Bede Anti-Racist Detatched Youth Work Project (Youth Work
Project, 17-23 Albion Street, Leicester LE1 6GD).
Devereux, Eoin and Hayes, Amanda ‘The Media and
Social Exclusion: The Views of Media Professionals’ in Perception is Power: Social Exclusion and the Media (Dublin: WRC Social
and Economic Consultants, Integra, National Support Structure, 2000).
Farrell, Fintan and Watt, Philip, Responding to Racism in Ireland (Dublin:
Veritas, 2001).
Fraser, Nancy, ‘Rethinking Recognition’, New Left Review 3, May/Jun (2000), pp.
107-120.
Georgiou,
Myria ‘Mapping Diasporic Minorities and Their Media in Europe: Studying the
Media, investigating Inclusion and Participation in European Societies, European
and Transnational Communities’, (European Media Technology and Everyday Life
Network (EMTEL): 2001). http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/Media/EMTEL/Minorities/minorities_docs.html
Gibbons, Luke, ‘Guests of the Nation: Ireland,
Immigration, and Post-Colonial Solidarity’, Traces:
A Post-Colonial Journal, Vol 1, No 1, (2000).
Hall, Stuart ‘The Local and the Global’ in King,
Anthony D., ed, Culture, Globalization
and the World-System (Binghamton, New York: Macmillan, 1991).
Hall, Stuart, ‘ New Ethnicities’, in Morley, David
and Kuan-Hsing, Chen, Stuart Hall: Critical
Dialogues in Cultural Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 1996).
Hand, Brian ‘Twin Citizens’, SuperUmbau Issue 3, (1999).
Hewitt, Roger. Routes of Racism: The Social Basis of Racist Action (Trentham Books).
Husband, Charles, ‘Introduction: ethnicity and
media democratization within the nation-state’, in Husband, ed, A Richer Vision: The Development of ethnic
minority media in Western democracies, (London: UNESCO Publishing and
John Libbey Media, 1994).
Husband, Charles, ‘Communicating Sameness and Containing
Diversity: Communication Policies and Ethno-National Policies in the EU’ in
Corcoran, Farrel and Preston, Paschal, ed.s, Democracy and Communication in the New Europe: Change and Continuity in
East and West (Cresskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press, 1995).
Lentin, Ronit and MacVeigh, Robbie, Racism and Anti-Racism in Ireland (Dublin:
Beyond the Pale Publications, 2002).
Lloyd, David, ‘Ethnic Cultures, Minority Discourse
and the State’ in Barker, Francis, Hulme, Peter and Iversen, Margaret, ed.s,
Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory
(Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1994).
Lloyd, David, ‘Foundations of Diversity: Thinking
the University in a Time of Multiculturalism’ in Rowe, John Carlos, ed, “Culture”
and the Problem of the Disciplines (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
Longley, Edna and Kiberd, Declan Multi-culturalism: The View from the Two Islands
(Cork: Cork University Press in association with The Centre for Cross Border
Studies, Armagh, 2001).
MacLaughlin, Jim, Travellers and Ireland: Whose History, Whose Country? (Cork University
Press, 1995).
O'Donnell, Susan and Eilis Ni Leathlobhair (2002),
A Website for Newcomers to Ireland and Ethnic Minority Communities in Ireland:
Feasibility Study Report. Dublin: Models Research
http://www.models-research.ie/publications/dir.html
O'Donnell, Susan, Brian Trench, and Kate Ennals
(1998), Weak Connections: Final report of the research project The Voluntary
Sector in the Information Age. Dublin: Dublin City University
http://www.dcu.ie/staff/volsec.html
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, ‘Can the Subaltern
Speak?’ in Grossberg, Lawrence and Nelson, Cary, ed.s, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (Houndmills and London:
Macmillan Education 1988).
11. Web-based Resources
www.diversity-online.org
A ‘one-stop shop’ resource for journalists and
media workers, which aims to encourage the fair reporting and writing of stories
concerning ethnicity, racism, tolerance, xenophobia, anti-semitism, minority
rights and refugee and asylum matters.
www.code1.com/cybercolonies/eram
The Ethnicity, Racism and Media discussion forum,
devoted to all aspects pertaining to the role of the mass media in generating
and disseminating representations of race and ethnicity.
www.ramproject.org.uk
The Presswise RAM project promotes best practice
in media representation of refugee and asylum issues.
European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
From this site it is possible to order / download a free copy of the report
Racism and Cultural Diversity in the Mass Media: An Overview of Research and
Examples of Good Practice in the EU Member States, 1995-2000.
12. Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following for their
support, encouragement and involvement:
All presenters, contributors and participants
Peter O'Mahony, Irish Refugee Council
Philip Watt, National Consultative Committee on
Racism and Interculturalism
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski
David Denby, Agnes Maillot, Bill Richardson (School
of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, DCU)
Barbara O'Connor, Farrel Corcoran, Des McGuinness,
Pat Brereton, Martin Molony (School of Communications, DCU)
Pauline Mooney, Faculty of Humanities, DCU
Frank Clarke, Gay Lawlor and Michael Feeney, Technical
Services, School of Communications, DCU
DCU Teaching and Learning Committee
Robert Duffy, Education Services, DCU
Ray Wheatley, General Services, Buildings Office,
DCU
Angela Hennessy, DCU Management Catering Services
Susan Folan, Presidents office, DCU
Eileen Colgan, Press Office, DCU
Eoin Dubsky, DCU Green Society
Gavan Titley
Stephanie Rains
Conor Lucy, Aspectable Design (poster/programme
design)
John O'Grady, website designer
Anne Murphy, Learning and Teaching Centre, DIT
Philip McCormack, National Institute for Transport
and Logistics, DIT
Marie Toft, DCU, Red Pepper Productions
Noirin McNamara, Timothy Davis and all the student
volunteers from the School of Communications, DCU